Garlic. Lots and Lots of Garlic

Chicken with Lots and Lots and Lots of garlic!!! 40 Cloves. Not bad. I want to play around with the recipe some more, see if I can get more flavor into the chicken--mine was good, juicy, etc, but the garlic flavor seemed to really be only in the sauce. Which is totally ok!

Start by searing some chicken. I used bone-in/skin on chicken thighs. Add some oil to a pan and let the chicken really sear and great good and brown. This will develop flavor, sear in the juice and render some chicken fat out, so make a tasty sauce! Set the chicken to the side and move to the garlic.

While the chicken sits, start to saute 40 cloves of garlic in the fat and with a bit of butter! This is silly crazy good. Awesome aroma. Make sure to keep the garlic cloves moving so they don't burn.

When the garlic begins to brown, add 2 cups of wine. More brilliant aroma! Bring to a boil and return the chicken to the pan. Now watch this...the garlic and wine go from this...fairly clear liquid and cloves to this...

...a creamy, opaque sauce. I have no idea what chemical reaction happened, but whatever it was, it was delicious! You can stop here, or you can thicken the sauce with some flour and enrich it with a splash of cream. I'm not sure it's necessary.

Serve the sauce over the chicken and with some egg noodles if you like. As much as I don't like it, I think some sauted spinach would be good with this. The creamy, garlicky goodness would play nicely with the greens.

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic
from Anne's Food, by way of Ina Garten

1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces
salt pepper
2 TB olive oil
1 TB butter
3 whole garlics - about 40 cloves
2 cups dry white wine
3 TB cognac
2-3 TB flour
1/4 cup heavy cream
salt, pepper, sugar

Bring a small pot of water to the boil. Add all the garlic cloves and blanch for one minute. Drain and let them cool - they will now be super easy to peel, which is your next step.

Dry the chicken with paper towels, and season with salt and pepper. Heat butter and oil in a heavy pot, and brown the chicken. Start with the skin-side down, and keep the heat fairly high. When the chicken is nicely browned on both sides, set it aside. You have to work in batches, or the chicken won't brown. When all the chicken pieces are done (and set aside), add the peeled garlic cloves to the pot and fry for about ten minutes on medium high heat. They should be golden, but they can burn easily so watch them!

Add the wine and two tablespoons of the cognac. Bring to a boil, add the chicken and cover with a lid. Lower the heat, and cook on low heat for about 30 minutes. Test to see that the chicken is done, and if it is, remove it to a serving bowl and cover with foil to keep it warm.

Scoop out about 1/2 cup of sauce and mix with the flour. Add it back to the pot along with the last tablespoon of cognac, and a 1/4 cup of the cream. Bring to a boil and cook for a few minutes. Add more cream if it seems too thick. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar if the wine you're using is very acidic. Pour the sauce, with all the garlic in it, over the chicken and serve.


Notes:
1) I used store bought, pre-peeled garlic for this. Not the best way to move forward, but easy!
2) I don't have cognac. I thought about using some brandy, but settled on masala instead. Nice. I could have used some cream sherry. I think something along these lines is necessary for a final flavor note, but if you don't have a shot of liquor, that's ok.
3) I would try to use wine. If you don't have wine or prefer not to cook with wine you can use broth. You'll want some acidity, so maybe add a squeeze of lemon juice.
4) Consider adding some herbs. I had some freshly chopped parsley. Some thyme or rosemary would play very nicely.
5) The final step of cooking the chicken. When the chicken is in the wine/garlic sauce and simmer for 30 minutes, the crisp skin becomes very soggy and nasty. While finishing the sauce, I place the chicken, skin side up, on a baking sheet and place under the broiler in my oven for a few minutes to make the skin crispy. An extra step that is totally worth it!

Garlic Lovers Stand Up!

This really is a favorite of mine. Easy, fast and full of great flavor. Of course, Garlic is the predominate flavor, but there is also wine, olive oil, some red pepper and grated Parm. The only note is to roast your garlic in advance, so you don't have to wait an hour to make dinner.

Three Garlic Pasta

We need to fry some garlic slivers.


Until they are golden, brown and crispy. Garlic Flavor 1.


Then we chop some garlic and saute in the same olive oil as the fried slivers. Toss in some red pepper for a little heat. Garlic Flavor 2.


As the garlic softens and starts to just barely get brown, pour in some wine.


Then we add some soft, gooey, sticky, awesome, roasted garlic. Let it dissolve in the wine and simmer for a minute. Garlic Flavor 3.


Add some chopped parsley, toss with spaghetti and garnish with crispy garlic slivers and freshly grated Parm.

Fresh Garlic

This was an interesting weekend at the Market. Not for any particular reason. I had plans to buy only one item, as I'm going to be out of town part of this week for work and we leave next week for our trip to San Diego. So if you buy too much you can end up wasting if you don't use. So I had plans to buy buns...Parker House rolls...which are the best I've ever had and love to eat them as a snack, especially with a little homemade jam. So, good intentions and all that. I ended up buying fresh corn, more jam and garlic.

My table was set up next to a very nice lady (name escapes me!) who was selling garlic from her farm in Virginia. She bought the farm last year and this is the first crop she's been able to harvest. Next year she hopes to have much more produce. She already has a farm that supports 170 (?) families, similiar to a CSA (community sustained agriculture). Well, she certainly was a popular vendor this weekend. Despite the rain, she did very well, selling nearly 25 bundles (8 heads each)! I bought one bundle myself!

The garlic with the stems!

Beautiful heads of garlic with just a slight fragrant scent of garlic.

I decided I was going to prep the garlic for roasting!

I inherited my little garlic roaster from my friend Pam. If you don't have one, don't rush out to get one. You can use aluminum foil. So to make roasted garlic. Heat your oven to 350. Slice the tops of the garlic heads off, exposing the tops of the cloves.

Drizzle with olive oil and a light sprinkle of salt (optional). Cover the garlic roaster, or wrap the heads up in the foil. Place in the oven for an hour. At the end of the hour, I turn the oven off and let the garlic sit in the oven until cool. Your house is going to smell so nice! Rich, warm, enticing.

When the garlic is cool to touch, it is time for the final bit of prep. The sticky, smelling, OMG so delicious step. Take the heads and squeeze out the buttery cloves. Hold the heads over a bowl and squeeze from the root end; think tube of toothpaste.

The cloves are sticky and completely tender; they do spread like butter! Discard the remaining portion of the garlic head. Store the garlic in an airtight container, in the fridge. And I'll be making this recipe this week!

Triplette avec ail

Friday night's dinner included...
A Threeway of Garlic!
Chopped.
Sliced.
And roasted.

Pasta with Garlic and Olive Oil

Start by slicing, thinly, a few cloves of garlic...fry until just crispy in olive oil...be careful not to burn them.

Let the crispy bits drain, then in olive oil, toss in some chopped garlic and red pepper flakes.

Add wine and one whole head of roasted garlic.

Let the wine reduce and the roasted garlic melt into the liquid.

Some parsley, pasta and toss.

Serve with wine and freshly grated parmesan.

Note to self...make sure you eat this on a weekend, or a night you're not going to work...there's enough garlic to make you smell for a whole day! Whew!!!

Easy Pasta Dinner

Pasta with Garlic & Olive Oil

Perfect and FAST!

This recipe is originally from Martha Stewart Living and was called 3 Garlic Pasta, it's been floating around my recipe box for years!

I didn't review the recipe far enough in advance. I should have had roasted garlic, but I didn't. Next time I will think far enough ahead. But this is very good, totally satisfying and didn't feel oily from the olive oil.

Garlic, Red Pepper Flakes and Olive Oil all swimming together.

Pour in some white wine and simma' down.

Add parsley and toss the pasta in to coat.

Schlup together and dump in a bowl.

Sprinkle with freshly grated Parm.

3 GARLIC PASTA

--Martha Stewart Living

1 head of garlic + 8 cloves
1lb of spaghetti
2T of Olive Oil
¾ cup dry white wine
¼ cup parsley coarsely chopped
½t red-pepper flakes
Salt and Pepper
Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese

Roast head of garlic (Takes an hour or so, plan ahead)
Cook Pasta
Slice 5 cloves thinly
Finely chop 3 cloves
Cook sliced cloves until golden brown and crisp in olive oil, set aside
Add Chopped Garlic, until translucent
Add roasted garlic and wine—simmer for three minutes
Add Pasta, parsley, pepper flakes, salt and pepper
Toss
Cheese over top


This is great. If you wanted to do more with this, add some spinach to the olive oil before you add the pasta. Garnish with toasted pine nuts. Yum. What else could you add? If you like the broccoli. Maybe some other sauted veg.